Pepper is a main seasoning in dining. Peppercorns are the original form of pepper, and have to be crushed into small pieces before they are provided on the dining table.
Many kinds of pepper grinders have been devised to crush peppercorns into small pieces. Referring to FIG. 5, one of the conventional pepper grinders 4 has a grinding assembly 42 having an inner grinding part and an outer grinding part turnable relative to each other to grind pepper in between. The inner grinding part of the grinding assembly 42 is fixedly housed in an upper housing member 41, and the outer grinding part of the grinding assembly 42 is fixedly housed in a lower housing member 43 such that a user can turn the upper housing member 41 relative to the lower housing member 43 to grind pepper between the inner grinding part and the outer grinding part; the lower housing member 43 has a bottom opening 431 for small pieces of ground pepper to be dispensed therefrom.
Because the grinding parts of the grinding assembly 42 are attached to the housing members 41 and 43 by means of hot melt adhesive, the pepper grinder is found to have disadvantages as follows:
1. When the hot melt adhesive is not applied to the joint between the grinding assembly and the housing members enough, the grinding assembly can""t be secured to the housing members. When the hot melt adhesive is applied to the joint too much, same will form hairy edge on the housing members, and consequently, the housing members can""t turn relative to each other smoothly.
2. The grinding assembly is likely to loosen on the housing members after long time of use.
Therefore, it is a main object of the present invention to provide a pepper grinder which has a grinding assembly capable of being easily and securely housed in the housing members.
The pepper grinder has a grinding assembly including an outer grinding member and an inner grinding member; the grinding members have opposing grinding teeth such that pepper can be ground in between when one turns relative to the other.
The outer grinding member is secured in a lower housing member by means of a lower securing ring; the lower securing ring has saw teeth projecting upwards, and the saw teeth are inserted into an inner side of the lower housing member from pointed ends. The lower securing ring is also connected to the outer grinding member such that the latter can""t move relative to the lower housing member.
The inner grinding member is connected to a locating member, which is also secured to an upper housing member by means of a securing ring of the kind such that the grinding member can""t turn relative to the upper housing member. Therefore, when the upper housing member is turned relative to the lower housing member, the inner grinding member can turn relative to the outer grinding member to grind pepper in between.